


Concussion

by WhumpTown



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Concussions, Gen, Hospitalization, Hurt Malcolm Bright, Malcolm Bright Gets a Hug, Malcolm Bright Whump, Medical Procedures, Seizures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:41:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24890077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhumpTown/pseuds/WhumpTown
Summary: Malcolm takes a nasty crack to the back of the headTakes place after 'The Job' and Malcolm's "crunchy" crack
Relationships: Gil Arroyo & Malcolm Bright, Malcolm Bright & Dani Powell, Malcolm Bright & JT Tarmel
Comments: 6
Kudos: 104





	Concussion

**Author's Note:**

> The reason Malcolm sees Martin in that shot is because the occipital lobe deals with the "vision" part of the brain. So for once, it wasn't a hallucination because Malcolm is Malcolm but because "crunchy" hits can lead to hallucinations... and seizures

_Killer_

_Murderer_

_Psycho_

Malcolm struggle to his feet, his knees struggling to hold him upright. Martin Whitley is talking to him, his gun half-raised between the-the woman… her name- he can’t remember her name just waking up on the floor. “You-You don’t have to do this,” his heart is pounding in his chest. A tight fluttering feeling in his chest as it skips beats and shudders. “Please, don’t-”

Tire wheels scream as they accelerate at a rapid pace on the compound’s floor. Malcolm watches in silent horror as the car speeds through. Martin raises the gun, words, or a scream leaving his mouth- it’s all indiscernible. _Wrong_. 

“Bright you okay?”

His head snaps up, away from Martin- _The Surgeon, a notorious serial killer, is laying dead on a compound floor and Malcolm is actually- Gil is tucking his gun away. His face is lax, an eyebrow raised in concern like he can't see what's right there. Like Martin isn't right there! _Laying right there, dead. **Dead!**__

_“What happened?”_

_Malcolm’s non-shakey hand, his typically _‘good’_ hand trembles as he points to their bad guy. His ears are processing Vijay excitedly telling them about Malcolm’s perfect plan. About Vijay’s dad running over a coke dealer back in the day and _“the corner table boys, the rejects, the bad seeds!”_._

_But his mind- his brain…_

_His father is laying- _dead_ \- under Vijay’s vintage porsche. _

_“Bright?”_

_The world is falling to the left. Tilting as if on an axis- the world _is_ on an axis- but it's falling off. _

_Tipping-_

_Dripping-_

__Falling._ _

_"Woah-"_

_His eyes flutter open and he's on the ground. Surrounded by lavender- _no_... He _smells_ lavender. He smells Dani and the soft lavender shampoo Dani uses. Soft. He's laying in her lap. His cheek on her jeans and her hand on his cheek._

_"You with us?" Her eyes are bright- _no, he's Bright_ \- Dani rubs his cheek but her attention flicks away and she's talking to Gil. Saying _something_ to Gil. When she turns back to him, his stomach twist. Bitter stomach acid bites at the back of his throat. _

_The world tilts again and he's limp, rolled over onto his side as vomit just keeps coming out. He can't control it. He can't stop it._

_"Easy, easy-" they're on a different world altogether. Their voices muddled._

_Malcolm feels dead. His limbs weighed down- waterlogged. His right arm goes numb, cold- his ear rings loudly and his eyes roll back._

_"Oh God-" Dani's hands move away from Malcolm. "He's-He's seizing!"_

_Dani keeps his head from hitting the cement, checking her watch for the time but other than that… She can't do much more than listen to him choke and gasp as his body jerks out of his control._

_Thirty seconds pass and Dani starts to panic._

_"U-Uhm-" Dani can feel her chest tightening. "Gil?"_

_He's shaking his head, looking between the door waiting for the EMTs and Malcolm. "Just-... I-" His eyes are sad, lost. They flick to her-_

_Helpless._

_One minute. It's not bad, they're not at medical emergency yet but Malcolm's an overachiever._

_"Over here!"_

_Time seems drawn out like it's been two hours not two minutes._

_The emergency personnel move right in. Dani's pushed out. "How long has he been like this?" Two fingers pushed pressed to Malcolm's jugular and Dani takes a stumbling step back-_

_Why hadn't she thought of that? Why hadn't she check?_

_"Three minutes, " Gil says but he looks down at his watch and shakes his heads. "No, Uhm, sorry. It's been more than four minutes now…" His voice drops, fear encroaching because long seizures aren't a good thing. "Nearly five."_

_One of the uniformed workers gives them a curt nod before pulling out a bag. “Is he on any medications?” Malcolm’s breathing has already taken a hit, his oxygen status at 83. “Benzodiazepines might cause an adverse reaction if he’s on anything else. So I need to know if he’s taken any medication recently.”_

_But Gil’s pulling blanks. “He’s on a lot of medication,” Gil stutters. It’s been more than fifteen years of balancing different medications. Hadn’t Malcolm just missed two days a week before because Garbial was switching him onto a different anxiety medication?_

_“He takes a handful of stuff every morning,” Dani supplies, arms crossed over her chest. “We’ve been working a case, he’s been stressed so I don’t know if- maybe he didn’t take them?” It could be a stretch either way. Malcolm fails in many ways to take care fo himself. “He’s pretty good about his medicine though.”_

_The EMT nods, turning to his partner. “I’m pushing a dose of Midazolam intramuscularly.”_

_Dani feels herself being pulled back, Gil’s chest to her back. Distracting her and giving him something to hold onto. She watches as the medicine goes into Malcolm’s deltoid. “Is-Is that going to help?”_

_“Airway is compromised-” but they’re working and right now Dani’s questions go to the back burner. “We need to get him to central.”_

_They’re useless. Detectives aren’t all that important in a situation like this._

_“Can’t someone go with him?” Dani feels tears slipping down her cheek. They can’t just _take_ him. He’s got a family- he’s got them. He’s got her. “He-He’s gonna freak out,” she says, and when she tries to follow Gil’s arms tighten around her. “He doesn’t like hospitals! Please, you can’t-” _

_The medicine does its job but Malcolm’s oxygen is still very low. He needs to get to a hospital before they have to intubate in the field. “We’re going to Saint Ann’s, you can follow.”_

_Gil’s knuckles are white, his grip on the steering wheel tense. His driving isn’t so good either. He just keeps thinking about right before everything went to hell. Malcolm’s hand trembling and, of course, now Gil recalls it was his right hand. His _good_ hand. It shouldn’t have been trembling- not unless something was wrong. _

_So why hadn’t Gil seen it?_

_Malcolm needed him and Gil didn’t see it. He didn’t _notice_._

_“We’re here for Malcolm Bright,” JT takes the lead. Marching ahead of them like if he sees Malcolm first then all is forgiven. He can fix all this with a bad joke and some taunts. No harm, no foul. Hell, maybe the punk kid will take them out for a round and they can squish themselves in the back of Gil’s car all too queasy to speak. Drunk but happy. Drunk but not _here_._

_The nurse takes her time and each second that passes is just another ulcer in the pit of JT’s stomach. He should have been there. JT’s never there. Dani is and sometimes Gil but JT never is. Now, some stupid seizure might take the kid out and what does JT have to show for it? Half a years worth of taunting and a secret name. Not a ‘good job’ but a relationship that borders on just acquaintances._

_“Follow me.”_

_Dani wraps her arms around herself- her cold hands on her cold arms. The hallway is cold and it’s really not helping the chills running down her spine._

_“Can you tell us if he’s okay?” JT jogs to keep up with the woman’s fast pace. “We’re his- his colleagues. We just-”_

_She pulls back a curtained area and there he is._

_He’s on his back, limbs splayed out on the bed. There’s an oxygen mask on his face, fogging with each breath he takes. The pulse ox on his finger is measuring out his heartbeat, steady and strong. Better than he had been in the compound._

_“Malcolm, son?” Gil takes his right hand, rubbing the pad of his thumb over Malcolm’s knuckles._

_Malcolm moans softly, moving stiffly as he wakes. His eyes lashes flutter and he opens his eyes just a sliver, looking around at them before shutting them. He swallows thickly and opens his eyes back. Smiling crookedly at Gil. “Hey,” he croaks, eyes heavy. “Wa’ ‘appened?”_

_Gil pulls the chair off to the side closer to the bed, “you had a seizure.”_

_Malcolm’s eyes shift over to Dani and JT, breathing heavily under the mask. He’s pale, still trembling with exhaustion. His muscles are sore and his head is pounding. “Oh,” he wheezes, he moves his arms up closer to his body. His knees bending slightly as he fails to bring them closer._

_Dani steps up to the bed and pulls the thin blanket up to his shoulder._

_He turns the smile to her, “thanks, Dani.” He rubs his hand, uncoordinatedly, under his nose. “I hit my head,” he slurs, eyes drifting back shut. “Still ‘urts.”_

_Gil pats his hand, “I know, son.” He directs his attention to Dani and JT, smiling softly at their sad, tormented frowns. “Go on home,” he orders softly. “He’s-” Gil looks down and sure enough Malcolm’s already asleep. “He’s probably just got a nasty concussion.” He lets out a sigh, his own fears settling down now that he can see Malcolm. “No sense in all of us staying around, huh? They’re probably just going to discharge him.”_

_Dani looks between Gil and Malcolm. She wants to stay, to make sure he’s really okay, but at the same time, she doesn’t want to directly disobey Gil. Not when he’s already got enough on his hands. JT is frowning behind her, though, arms crossed on his chest. Opposed to the idea, too._

_She turns and Malcolm’s looking at her, an eyebrow raised. “Gonna stay?” Malcolm whispers. He smiles when Dani nods, “ ‘s good.” He rubs at his temple, frowning. “They…” he grimaces, his head pounding. “They bring you jello,” he informs her._

_JT grunts and shakes his head. “You gonna share?” he asks._

_Malcolm grins, “nope.”_

_The small space fills with soft laughter and reunited with his teammates and warm Malcolm falls back under the haze of exhaustion. Knowing that when the nice nurse comes around with jello someone will grab some and if he’s really lucky it’ll be lemon._


End file.
